Want to travel in Europe to somewhere that your friends haven’t been? Check out Spain’s Costa del Sol (“Sun Coast”) which is located along the southern coast of Spain. This area is comparable to the Côte d’Azur of Southern France (see my blog post on Nice and other towns in the Côte d’Azur here) but gets much less tourist traffic. I spent several days traveling around the Costa del Sol in the autumn of 2022. If you’re looking for a European vacation to somewhere a little less well-known, but still filled with culturally rich heritage, beautiful weather, and amazing food, you should definitely add Spain’s Costa del Sol to your list.
An unexpected perk: this region was incredibly affordable. For contrast, the recent rise in popularity of traveling to Lisbon, Portugal has been driven by the city’s reputation for its low cost of living and easy accessibility for all – no matter your budget. However, I traveled to both Lisbon and Spain’s Costa del Sol in the same week of October 2022 – and Spain was cheaper by a long shot.
Málaga: The Perfect Home Base in Costa del Sol
Am I the only person who had never heard of Málaga until recently? Although this is a major Spanish city (with its own international airport), it is often overshadowed by Barcelona, Madrid, and Seville. At least for those of us who live in the United States (yours truly), Málaga isn’t often in the top five must-see destinations in Spain. But the city is certainly on the map with its own distinct feel (having been to the other three top Spanish cities I just mentioned, I can say that Málaga and the Costa del Sol generally are more relaxed).
Due to the aforementioned affordability of this city and region, my boyfriend and I were able to stay in a beautiful 4-star hotel right in the heart of Málaga’s Old Town. We booked a room with a balcony in the Vincci Larios Diez hotel, which I cannot recommend enough – the location was perfect and the service was amazing.
Málaga’s Old Town (Céntro Historico) is filled with cobblestone streets, cafes, and shopping (mostly well-known brands, rather than cute mom-and-pop shops).
One point worth noting – Málaga is a port city with a large harbor, which makes it an easily accessible stop for cruise chips to dock at for a day. We did notice an influx of tourists on Saturdays and Sundays during the day while cruise ships docked in Málaga for a visit. The city has great shopping and food options so it’s an attractive pit stop; however, the cruise passengers are generally back on their ships by the afternoon and the ship would depart before dinner time.
Food to try:
Churros, duh. Churros are a traditional Spanish dessert – basically fried dough, accompanied by hot melted chocolate for dipping. The churros we get in the U.S. are dusted in cinnamon-sugar, but I’ve noticed that Spanish churros are generally served plain.
My boyfriend and I stopped for churros for breakfast one morning (I know we generally think of churros as a dessert in the U.S., but in Spain they are a breakfast food!). We chose to eat our dessert for breakfast at Casa Aranda, which is by far the most famous churrería in Málaga (and was conveniently right next to our hotel in the heart of the Old Town).
For a breakfast that isn’t chocolate and doughnuts, Málaga has a number of cute coffee cafés and brunch spots. We grabbed brunch one morning at BrunchIt, which wasn’t a particularly authentic Spanish spot, but served some delicious brunch classics (Eggs Benedict, avocado toast, fresh squeezed juices, the like).
Other than breakfast, I think I can confidently say that we ordered a charcuterie and cheese board at every meal while we were in Málaga. I am a huge cheese person, and Spanish Manchego is one of my favorite varieties. However, what really stood out to me in the Costa del Sol was the abundance of Jamón Ibérico (kind of like a super aged prosciutto) and how delicious it was. It was very common to see legs of jamón hung up in storefronts, and it was present on every charcuterie board. So delicious – if I could have brought this home as a souvenir, I would have.
Outside of Málaga’s Centro Historico (the Old Town), there are a variety of other neighborhoods with different feels. Generally these areas are more residential and less touristy than the center. There is also a ton of street art hidden around different corners!
My boyfriend and I did spend an afternoon trying to seek out street murals in Málaga’s SoHo neighborhood, but I felt a bit underwhelmed by the ones we were able to find. The good news is that new street art will always be popping up, so the scene might be significantly different by the time I’m back!
Day Trips in Costa del Sol
We stayed in Málaga for our home base, but planned daytime excursions on two separate days (out of four total days we spent in Costa del Sol). This made a lot of sense in terms of transportation – there is an airport in Málaga which we flew into upon arrival, and out of upon departure. Additionally, the day trips I wanted to take were both about an hour away from Málaga, but in opposite directions along the coast, so this allowed us to be centrally located.
I definitely enjoyed the easy experience of exploring Málaga – everything we wanted (food, shopping, the ocean) was less than a 5 minute walk from our hotel, which made our time there feel very relaxed. However, the two towns we explored on day trips were both distinctly memorable and I’m very happy that we traded some of our Málaga time to explore the Costa del Sol region more broadly.
Day Trip to Frigiliana
This was probably the most picturesque town I have ever visited – I’m incredibly happy we picked this spot for a day trip! There are many whitewashed villages in southern Spain (for example, we also considered visiting Mijas) but Frigiliana was absolutely beautiful and the shopping opportunities (hello, ceramics!) were incredible.
There isn’t really any great public transportation that runs to Frigiliana (although I believe there’s a bus route from Málaga that runs at fairly infrequent intervals). We chose to arrive by car. To get to Frigiliana from Málaga, we called an Uber to pick us up at our hotel. The drive was about 50 minutes east from Málaga through the winding hills of Southern Spain. Getting to Frigiliana was easy, getting back was a bit more difficult (more about this later!)
We didn’t have a set itinerary for Frigiliana at all, which was lovely. After arriving around noon and grabbing food at the first restaurant we saw, we wandered the streets looking for beautiful views and picking up souvenirs for friends and family back home.
Again, there were clearly organized tours that were designed to bring groups of tourists to Frigiliana for a few hours. These tour groups were all over the place for an hour or so in the early afternoon, but once 2pm rolled around, the village became a ghost town. (This was amazing for taking photos – I didn’t have to worry about anyone being in my shots!)
Our day in Friligiana was wonderful, but getting back to Málaga was trickier than I expected. I had assumed we would just be able to call an Uber, but every time I opened the app, I received the message “there are no Ubers available.” I think there are many more Ubers in the more populated areas of Costa del Sol (Málaga, Marbella) and not so many available in the more rural spaces. We ended up waiting at the one taxi stand at the entrance of the village. Eventually a taxi showed up and agreed to drive us back to Málaga (there was some haggling involved). While this wasn’t that big of an inconvenience, I’m not sure what the plan would have been if the taxi didn’t show…hitchhike? It’s not traveling if you’re not having an adventure!
Day Trip to Marbella
If you have any familiarity with any of the towns in my guide to Spain’s Costa del Sol, I’m imagining you’ve most likely heard of Marbella. Marbella is one of the more famous vacation resort towns in Europe. The town is specifically known as an attractive holiday destination for Europe’s rich and famous.
There are two main sections of Marbella: the Old Town, and the resort area. My boyfriend and I spent most of the afternoon exploring the Old Town (more cobbled streets, cute cafés, and small souvenir shops…do you see a trend?). We then ventured towards the beach resort area later in the evening for a spectacular dinner.
We ate a very late lunch at a place I highly recommend in the Old Town – the Farm Restaurant. Because it was close to 3pm, we were the only patrons. We thoroughly enjoyed the bohemian décor and the white sangria that we ordered with our charcuterie.
For dinner, I was on the hunt for a more upscale dining environment. We ended up walking from Marbella Old Town, down Marbella’s seafront Promenade along the water, in search of a suitable dinner spot. I considered eating at some of the restaurants lining the Promenade (in fact, we even sat down at one) but none of them had great reviews and weren’t really giving me the right vibe. So I ended up making us walk all the way along the Promenade to the very westernmost end, where we were lucky to come across the Sea Grill restaurant (part of the Puente Romano Beach Resort). This was dining at its finest, for sure.
Although pricey, the atmosphere and food at this restaurant were well worth it. My boyfriend and I enjoyed multiple appetizers, delicious pasta dishes for our mains (hello, truffle pasta!) and two decadent desserts.
Other day trips from Costa del Sol – food for thought: Many blogs will also suggest traveling from Málaga around the southernmost regions of Andalusia to some of the more famous towns in Southern Spain (Sevilla, Granada, Córdoba). I didn’t include these as part of my recent Costa del Sol itinerary because I had already spent a good bit of time in these regions a few years ago, and was looking for something different. But if they are interesting to you, you should absolutely check them out!
Overall, I was pleasantly surprised with my trip to Spain’s Costa del Sol. The region has a great range of options for whatever your traveling mood might be (exploring, relaxing, eating, shopping). Although it’s less commonly known versus some other Spanish destinations, I absolutely recommend planning a trip here. It’s great to try something different, and you can’t go wrong with the Costa del Sol!
